CSWE Full Circle - June 2017

CSWE Launches New Initiative: Envisioning the Future

Colleagues,

The CSWE Board of Directors and staff are excited to announce the launch of our Envisioning the Future of Social Work Initiative. As we look toward the sunset of our current strategic plan, Vision 2020: Strengthening the Profession Through Research, Education, and Career Advancement, we have committed to a process that will allow us to think big about the profession for which our programs prepare practitioners, researchers, and scholars. Before setting a direction for the future of social work education, it is important to develop a more clearly envisioned future for the profession. Today’s graduates will still be practicing in 2050 or even later. What might the profession of social work look like at that time? What might the role of social workers include? What insights about the future of social work can we develop to help us better prepare graduates of CSWE’s member programs for their professional future?

A new task force, the Futures Task Force, will guide this work. Task Force members were carefully selected to ensure diversity of experience and roles. We are pleased to announce the members of our Futures Task Force:

Dr. Martell Teasley, Dean, University of Utah; President, National Association of Social Work Deans and Directors

Dr. Barbara White, Dean Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

The year-long process will begin this summer. The Futures Task Force will begin identifying key informants for in-depth interviews. The themes and trends will form the basis of a survey that will be sent to the membership for input in the fall. These processes will culminate in a report to the CSWE Board of Directors that will identify the key trends likely to shape the future of the social work profession. This will then become the foundation for the CSWE Strategic Planning process that will begin immediately following.

Thank you to the members of the Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Anthony Natale, for their recommendations to guide the work. We look forward to engaging with our membership throughout this process.

Darla Spence Coffey, PhD, MSW
President and Chief Executive Officer

Barbara W. Shank, PhD, MSW
Chair, CSWE Board of Directors

Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (CSOGIE)

The Council on Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression (CSOGIE) promotes the development of social work curriculum materials and faculty growth opportunities relevant to sexual orientation and gender identity and expression, and the experiences of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, transgender, or two-spirit. The most recent CSOGIE initiatives include the following:

APM 2017 Special Session on Political Advocacy and Nondiscrimination in Texas – At the height of political tensions in Texas, CSOGIE and the Caucus of LGBT Faculty and Students in Social Work are working closely with CSWE President Darla Spence Coffey to develop a special session for this year’s APM. The special session will address matters of inclusiveness as well as advocating for nondiscriminatory policies. The session will take place on Friday, October 20 from 4:00 pm–5:00 pm and will include panelists from the state who will speak on issues of transgender rights, immigration policies, and voting rights in the state of Texas.

The Rainbow Papers – The Rainbow Papers, published in 2016, was a collaborative effort between administrators of CSWE and members of CSOGIE to provide guidelines for creating inclusive and affirming educational environments for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning social work students, faculty and staff members, and administrators. As a result, two guidelines were developed: Guidelines for Affirmative Social Work Education and Guidelines for Transgender and Gender Nonconforming (TGNC) Affirmative Education. The guidelines are available for public use, and social work faculty and administrators are encouraged to use them.

Additionally, CSOGIE is now accepting applications for the Sixth Annual Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity and Expression Scholarship Award, which will be presented at the Annual Program Meeting in Dallas, TX. The application deadline is June 30, 2017.

APM Early Bird Ad Reservations for Final Program
Early Bird Ad Reservations for ​the 2017 APM Final Program are due June 26, 2017. View the Exhibitor Prospectus (page 7) for ad rates and contact Allison Moon to reserve your ad space.

SocialWorkCAS

Fee Assistance Program Coming Soon!
The SocialWorkCAS Fee Assistance Program is offering application waivers during the SocialWorkCAS 2017–2018 cycle to applicants who have served or are currently serving in the U.S. military or a full term in one of the following public service programs: AmeriCorps, City Year, Peace Corps, or Teach for America (certain restrictions apply). Contact the SocialWorkCAS team for additional information.

Institutional Research

Joint Research Task Force Scholar Announced
The CSWE Joint Research Task Force on EPAS appointed Helen Petracchi (University of Pittsburgh) as Scholar for 2017. Dr. Petracchi will be working with the task force to advance the science of social work accreditation; learn more about the project on the scholars page.

Governance

2017 CSWE Election Results Announced
The CSWE Board of Directors and National Nominating Committee election results are now available. Please join us in congratulating the newest members of CSWE's Board of Directors and National Nominating Committee!

Members in the News

Deana Morrow (Winthrop University) was selected as a teacher and mentor to the Path to Licensure Institute, a new educational initiative of the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) that is part of ASWB’s Path to Licensure program to help schools of social work infuse information about professional licensing and social work regulation into their programs. Morrow’s teaching experience and past regulatory board service contributed greatly to the success of the 3-day intensive course in May.

Barbara Shank, who is retiring as dean of the School of Social Work at St. Thomas and St. Catherine and currently serves as chair of the CSWE Board of Directors, received the St. Thomas Distinguished Service Award at the university’s graduate commencement ceremony in May.

Submission Guidelines

External submissions for the Members in the News, Resources, Opportunities for Members, and Events Calendar sections are welcome! View the editorial guidelines for more information. CSWE reserves the right to edit or decide not to publish any item. The content deadline for the next issue is Tuesday, July 11, 2017.